Month: December 2023

68 billion, yes with a “b” that is California’s projected budget shortfall for next fiscal year.  That is a big problem for our governor.  To give you an idea of just how bad it is, our entire rainy-day fund will only cover about 2/3 of the shortfall.  So draconian cuts will be needed/required.  Unlike the federal budget, the state must balance its budget.  True, they can and do use voodoo accounting tricks, but you can only do that for so long.  One trick CA used once was to pay their employees on July 1^st rather than June 30^th , the last day of the fiscal year, essentially pushing the payment forward a year.

Then came the Covid 19 windfall money.  The federal government gave lots of cash to support state and local governments affected by the shutdown and as a result, because flush with cash.  Folks also got stir crazy and decided to re-do their landscaping or the interior/exterior of their dwellings.  The Home Depot, Green Acre’s, Lowe’s, and Costco had lines miles long each day, let alone on weekends. 

While this was great, as usual, the government thought it would never stop.  It did.

CA you see has had a steady stream of people leaving it for decades.  Ditto with corporations and small business closing.  Elon Musk, who most would think would be revered and welcomed in CA was essentially run off. 

Now some will point out that we added jobs in California for so many years, even during the Trump administration…. they are correct.  But there is a caveat.  Most of those jobs were retail, minimum wage type jobs, or government ones.  The former don’t really help as minimum wage employees don’t provide much stimulation for the economy, as most are on a form of assistance or not a head of household earner.  The latter are an outflow of government monies and come with high unfunded costs like pension commitments and healthcare.

So how do we cut the 68 billion?  It’s not easy at all.  Gavin is going to be unpopular.

How can you cut electric vehicle subsidies/incentives when we are outlawing cars with internal combustion engines soon?  Ditto on cutting incentives/subsidies for solar systems on your roof.  Want to put off maintaining the roads? A judge may have something to say about that as gas tax is collected specifically for that.  Even eliminating all the incentives above, its likely only several hundred million, we need 68 billion… again with a “b”.

Uncle Joe Biden may want to try to help, but if there is one thing that is bipartisan in Congress, bailing out crazy California in a budget bind isn’t one of them!  Halting the high-speed rail is off the table since we have spent 15 years buying up land and suing every owner who dragged their feet.  The delta tunnels?  Ditto, off the table.

Closing down a government office building?  Unless you are planning to turn it into a homeless housing unit, that ain’t happening.  If you are in a lease, you owe the money, it’s just like a utility bill or rent payment.  Just because you didn’t turn it on or were on vacation all month doesn’t mean you skip the payment.

That brings us to the big cost cutting that needs to happen.  The reduction of pension/payrolls.  P and P as I call them likely takes up 70% of the budget, the pension is the golden goose, and you cannot cut that.  So, it comes down to cutting bodies.  Terminations are not really a government thing, layoffs aren’t either.  The way the contracts are negotiated, furloughs may be the only option.  I remember the Friday furloughs put in place under Governor Arnold were heavily criticized but found to be legal. Also, the State doesn’t cut management. They may keep some positions unfilled for a time but ultimately, they will cut entry level positions (the lowest paying ones) and just add more to the next rung up the ladder.

Also, keep in mind that a balanced budget is required by the State Constitution, but the reality is that the governor and legislature just need to agree to call it “balanced.” In reality the math doesn’t really have to work as long as both sides agree to the smoke and mirrors employed. Look for much to be papered over or pushed into future years. Also, special funds will be looted and their contents diverted to the General Fund in exchange for IOU’s.

Barring some kind of miracle that allows Gavin to run for President and thus avoid this nightmare, he is looking at being one of the most unpopular governors in the country when he starts making tough decisions.  The furloughs were hell on wheels for Arnold, will Gavin bring them back?  Will he cut back on programs? If so, which ones? CA is the liberal mecca for green energy spending, try to put the brakes on that?

The man in the 68-billion-dollar hole is coming for you. 

Not going to be fun…

The Chief

It’s easy to say, harder for the Democrats to do.

Honestly, the thing I remember most about Trump is not a slogan, a hat, or clichés.  He made a big deal out of being treated fairly.  He demanded it.  He skipped a debate when first running because he said he wasn’t being treated fairly.  He did not do interviews on certain networks or shows and claimed the same.  Back when I had cable (before the Blog Father straightened me out) I remember Trump telling Bill O’Reilly that he wasn’t treating him fairly.  On Fox no less!

Voter fraud was his thing… and he was very vocal during Covid.

How do you beat him legitimately?  Easy.

Stop sending a ballot to every Tom, Dick, Harry, and everyone else.  Yes, even in liberal mecca California you used to have to request a mail in ballot.  Have voting centers open for dropping the ballot off.  The local library, heck even the local watering hole may have had a drop off box for ballots last election.  In California (and elsewhere) ballots are also sent to each person who wants one, even if you have died or move away.  When I bought my house, the ex-owners got ballots for 3 years.  Even when presented with proof of out of state registration (wife) or a death certificate (husband), the county registrar’s office didn’t care. Literally voter fraud is supported in Sacramento County. 

My point?  Quit this process.

Count all ballots on election night.  None of this California bullshit of counting ballots for a good month plus after the election.  (The truth is that in many areas, all ballots are not counted.) No broken pipes, no leaving for the day and coming back tomorrow.  Bring in temporary workers, I could care less.  Make sure the water main doesn’t “break” or have the webcam be “down.”  Do vote count updates in real time.  We need to know the winner by midnight in California.

Vote in person or request a ballot via mail.  Require ballots to be returned by a certain date.  A webcam should be live streaming the vote counting process.  Count them all that night.  No breaks, pauses or anything.  This removes Trumps biggest card of fraud and not being treated fairly.  Trust me, do what I suggest and the conspiracy folks will have nothing to shout about.  Beat him fairly, like I laid out, and there will be no insurrection, stealing, cheating, or anything else.  If he tries to pull that card, he and his supporters will be laughed at.

The Chief

Series of quick blogs coming, likely will not be able to be posted in time, due to Blog Father’s well-deserved vacation.

So yesterday the State of Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that Donald Trump will not appear on the 2024 ballot for President in Colorado.  This is a wild case of judicial misuse.  Keep in mind all 7 judges are Democrat appointee’s so this isn’t a case of the “right” or “left” wing stacking a court, which Democrats love to pull. 

Please note this from the dissenting opinion, “I have been involved in the justice system for thirty-three years now, and what took place here doesn’t resemble anything I’ve seen in a courtroom.”

Translation: the Democrats will rue this day.

The truth here is Donald Trump has virtually no chance of winning in Colorado against any Democrat.  Why is the heck would the Democrats waste their capital on this?  It is pointless, they will now have to spend more time and attention to defending this practice, as it will be appealed to the US Supreme Court.

Again, just to point out, 7 judges–all Democrat appointees–basically split on this one.  4-3.  Again, it was a 4-3 decision.  In a state where Trump will not win.

In today’s news it appears CA Secretary of State Shirley Weber wants to do the same thing.  Our Attorney General and fellow brainless Democrat Rob Bonta appears ready to defend it all the way to the US Supreme Court.  Again, in a state Trump will not and cannot win to begin with.  Word has it at the press conference, Weber had to read off very large Kindergarten style cue cards and Rob Bonta immediately excused himself to the gender neutral (neutered?) bathroom to change his panties as the excitement from blocking a white male from a top job became too much for his body to handle.

Now for serious commentary.

Folk’s this is patently illegal.  It will not take much but this will be overturned.  Actually, I would not be stunned if the Supreme Court went 8-1 on this.  It sets a very dangerous precedent.  Think about it, what if a red state governor comes out and says, “Biden has had too many slips and falls, incoherent moments, etc. and by the power invested in me, he is henceforth banned from a ballot?”  “Or a blue state governor says we cannot allow candidate ____ or ____ on the ballot because they are hostile to; trans, LBGTQ, business, abortion, churches, etc.?”  This would be opening Pandora’s box like never before. 

Is this the type of world we want to live in?  A hyper-partisan society where a sole and single leader aka a dictator or ruling family decides who can and cannot run?

Here is a novel concept…let Donald Trump run.  He won’t win either state, not even a meteor killing all Democrats and decline to states as the dead vote in far bigger numbers for the Democrat than the Republican.  He won’t win there. 

Donald is a very flawed person, and a flawed candidate.  Regardless of your thoughts on stolen elections, the January 6^th thing was not a pretty sight.  Donald is a polarizing figure as we have pointed out here, even against a very bad Joe Biden, Trump is up just a few points.  Let the election play out and you may just beat Trump twice! 

While folks like William and the staff here have soured on Trump, imagine the rank and file?  However, when Democrats pull this crap on Trump, they are saying that we are next. Trump is cast once again as an outsider and a threat to the Elites. This causes us to rally around Trump. Were they to ignore Trump during the last three years, DeSantis would be leading the pack by 30 points.

To the Democrats who think this extra-legal political persecution is a good idea:  Think about groups who get upset when they are excluded from things for no reason.  Black People, Asian people, Hispanic people, Jews, Palestinians are some that quickly come to mind.  They do not like being excluded, restricted, charged with crimes, perp walked, mug shotted, etc. yet you are doing this very thing.  Trump would likely be getting molly-whopped in the primary, yet you continue to indict and convict without even a trial!  I have a feeling if someone actually could break down the polling for Trump, he is going to get a record high number of “non-white” groups for a Republican.  I doubt many of the above-mentioned groups feel like Trump is getting a fair shake.

Watch Trumps’s poll numbers next week.  I bet he picks up another 2-4% lead on Biden in the polls. 

Again, if you hate Trump, let the election play out and should he prevail then beat him in the General Election fair and square. The fact is Democrats can’t trust voters to agree with them and thus must deploy every dirty trick and political gambit they can think of.

FYI: I feel the same about rumblings in Texas that Biden should not be allowed on the ballot due to his failure to fix the border.  Knock it off.

This is so funny because when I was in school, I remember the USA and allies calling rigged elections out in North Korea, Russia, China, and various South American, and African nations for doing this same thing.  Now that we are a third-world country, I guess it’s, ok?  Wow.  That’s something.

The Chief

Chief and I were at the same Thanksgiving table and broke bread with a group of other readers of this blog.  Two leaned left, two leaned right, all of them had issues with the foreign policy takes on this blog.  Specifically, Israel and Ukraine.  Simply put they feel the blog staff here are nationalist, isolationist whackos.  This could not be further from the truth!

I believe we had a lot we could have learned from the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, but we did not.  Other countries do not like to be occupied.  Outside of Afghanistan, we have NEVER left a country we have invaded.  While keeping troops in Iraq and Afghanistan like we did, we lost numerous additional troops.  For zero reason.

We normally go to war/invasion over false pretenses … weapons of mass destruction anyone?  How many missiles/bombs/drone strikes have we lobbed at another country in the Middle East simply over “we think they are responsible for such and such attack on one of our bases there”.  It makes no sense, in most of these regions we have no reason to be there.

We even enter wars via proxy when we have no real connection to the invaded country.  Take for instance Ukraine. They are not a member of NATO or the EU (European Union). They never wanted to join either!  So now that they are attacked, we need to step in?  Why exactly?  Think about this, we are sending our munitions to a country who is not an ally in any way!

(Editor’s Note: Obama, Biden, and Soros did finance and coordinate the overthrow of the government in Ukraine in 2014. In a sense, we started this mess, but Johnnie Does is correct; what business did we have getting involved in the first place?)

Despite my best efforts, I didn’t land any punches with this group.

In the case of Israel, they are technically an ally, but they are surrounded by countries who have been/are hostile towards our foreign policy.  Egypt kinda blows hot and cold with us, Jordan as well.  Lebanon doesn’t like us.  Iran wants our country wiped off the earth and Syria, Yemen, and Oman like our money but could care less about us.  Israel, simply put, will not be helping us much in any war we engage in because they know they are on an island geo-politically.

When asked my opinion I gave the following regarding both “conflicts.”

On Israel:  We get our navy/ships out of their ASAP and back to their normal positions.  We do not need those strike groups in that region, we have NATO allies and troops stationed not far away.  To be fair, Israel has stated they don’t want, nor need our help. Regarding the numerous, (yeah check it out) numerous bases in Syria and Iraq, it’s time to pull up stakes and leave.  We have a massive airbase in Qatar, another country that in my opinion tolerates us, not really likes us.  That should be enough.  It’s time to bring our young people back home.  Just remember we believe Iran is funding the groups attacking Israel via proxy….

This brings me to my next point.

On Russia/Ukraine:  How come it’s ok for US/NATO to provide Ukraine with money, weapons, planes, vehicles, etc. but not ok when Iran does it?  On that topic, how much has NATO really given to Ukraine?  I read an article stating that the weapons we promised (NATO) will fall short of the goal.  Why must we arm them?  It seems like NATO really isn’t giving much; Germany gave some helmets, France has sent a few tanks and guns.  Seems like the countries sending the most are Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland. Each of these countries are small (the 3 Baltic states) or share a border with Russia and I would argue should be stockpiling not donating.  Why aren’t the other member nations stepping up?  If they don’t want to donate from their stock, they could purchase from US and give.  If the member nations who are not directly neighboring Russia are giving very little what does that tell you about this alliance?  Hate to say it but they are counting on us to bail them all out.  I would be ok with donating outdated weaponry such as missiles, bombs, and guns.  Tanks, planes, and other toys?  No chance.  By the way check out how much money the US and other countries have donated that is flat out unaccounted for… think we could be using that to solve the homeless issue a little?  Ukraine is corrupt, and has a very weak military, we are simply propping them up.  Sucks they got attacked but at some point, we may wish we had those weapons.

Let us address the real reason we are involving ourselves … the military industrial complex.  Raytheon, Boeing (yeah, they make war ships too), Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and others spend millions to lobby congress each year. In return they get billions in defense contracts.  Over time we accumulate a stockpile of military products.  As such we feel we must use/sell them to other countries.  As a result of this stockpiling, some of our leaders–think Bush’s, Clinton’s, Obama, Lindsay Graham, John McCain types feel we must invade or bomb anyone we do not like.  As you can see it’s a bi-partisan issue here, or I guess one issue both parties can agree on.  Buy me an expensive steak and lobster meal each time I want one, and you will get a blank check for defense spending.  Just look at how hard it is to get a slot on the defense committee in either branch of congress. These folks are smart and know where the lobby money hits hardest.  As such we have decades of pointless involvement in the Middle East and now Ukraine.  While the conflict in Israel has an end or goal, the Ukraine conflict shows no signs of stopping which is exactly what the military industrial complex wants.  They want continued war to get extra contracts. Notice how some are sounding the alarm about us running out of vehicles and weapons?  Again, why are we in these wars?

How would I fix these?  Let’s say I am king for a day.  I am calling Israel and saying what is your end game here?  How about kill the folks leading Hamas who ordered this brutal attack and demand all hostages released?  What they are doing now amounts to borderline genocide.  I am sorry but Hamas is a terror group, they don’t wear uniforms, they have no real military.  Israel looks like it’s going door to door and blowing up whomever appears to be a terrorist, so I guess all males aged 17-60.  This is not a strategy.  Kills those responsible, anyone in the direct way/tunnel etc. is collateral damage. 

After this I am calling the president of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan and telling him here is the plan from Israel, and the US is pulling its warships out of the Middle East.  I am telling him stop dialoguing with Russia and Iran…. Yeah, he recently started trying to thaw relations with both adversaries of ours.  He has always had the ear of Putin, but Turkey has been one of the countries supplying Ukraine fairly heavily with drones and equipment. Turkey has the second largest army in NATO.  Speaking of NATO, we cannot lose Turkey, as they control the Black Sea, and are a bridge to the Middle East.  By the way check out the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict; Turkey picked Azerbaijan, apparently, we are picking Armenia.  Doh!

As far as Ukraine… they aren’t in NATO or the EU, as noted earlier.  I would call the president and tell him the stockpile is thinning out and he will need to fill the holes elsewhere.  We can send the old things, but the flow is slowing, and he gets no more money!  I do not trust this country or any of their “leadership.” They are very corrupt and frankly I don’t think they really care about their people.  Ukraine is out gunned and outmanned. It’s time to re-trench.  Our goal in NATO is to defend those in the alliance, not those who feel they want to be after being attacked.  It’s time to fortify Finland, the Baltic Countries, and Poland, as they directly neighbor Russia.  Actions have consequence and Ukraine never wanted to join either group.  Russia is being made fun of right now militarily, but those making fun do not understand, Russia can lose 10 million people in this war, Ukraine cannot.  Look to history, even when fighting on our side in WW2 Russia has always been a meat grinder militarily. 

Final thought:  An isolationist policy isn’t what I am advocating.  I am saying our days as being the world’s police force are over.  If we are being honest and looking at this rationally, Russia will take Ukraine, and maybe Moldova, they won’t go farther that way.  Perhaps they also have designs on Georgia and maybe Armenia since Armenia was a former ally of Russia.  Outside of that they do not have many options.  If they attack a NATO country, it’s on.  Then we get involved.  Israel, they have proven they can defend themselves; the show of force was dumb.  Also, we need to think about our military’s sustainability, not in a “green” way but in a numbers way.  No one wants to sign up for the military now. We have been in pointless conflicts for my entire life, I am 37.  We continue to send our young people to die and for what exactly?  Move our troops back, and bring them home, if things get even more dicey, we can always re-deploy.

Johnnie Does

We have blogged about how both Joe Biden and Donald Trump can win next year in the election, but we haven’t spoken about the elephant in the room.  The elephant is the Democrat machine.  The machine knows Joe Biden is too old and is definitely in cognitive decline.  Congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota and Senator John Fetterman have both made comments about this very thing.  Phillips is an obscure congressperson who announced a primary run against an incumbent, which is a big no-no in either party.  Fetterman who had a stroke during his run for Senate last year has said Gavin Newsom is running a shadow campaign for president.  Folk’s comments like those don’t just come out unless there are legs to them. 

So how do they remove Joe from the ticket you may ask?

Easy, at the nominating convention for their party.  The delegates basically can pick the nominee, and just have a majority not vote in his favor.  You may remember Bernie did this last go round, taking his delegates all the way to the convention, even though he had zero chance of the nomination being his.  I fully believe this is why that Phillips guy is running, just to carry a name to the nominating convention.  I also do not think RFK will be on the general election ballot as an independent, I can’t put my finger on it, but I just don’t see a Kennedy not on the Democrat line. 

Simply said, Joe has major health and mental health concerns, and this blog feels the Democrats are waiting for an error similar to the dreaded “blue screen of death” Windows users fear their computer contracting.  For those reasons we feel Joe will not be the nominee.

Here is the bigger problem.

If not Joe, what do the Democrats do with Kamala Harris?  Democrats have always thrown the black person overboard when necessary, but in this case it is different.  Harris is the sitting Vice President.  She and Gavin do not like one another.  They will not be on the same ticket. Two folks from California is a liability not an asset for the Democrats.  This is what creates the issue.  Kamala was a Senator; however, she will not “path back” to the Senate. First, it’s a demotion, and second, she will look weak trying to get her old seat back.  (BTW her old Senate seat currently has a primary with 3 sitting Democrat congressmen in it, making it no sure thing).  Removing Harris is very risky, as throwing a black woman under the political bus will be viewed in a bad light by the black community.  BLM would be outraged, and we have seen what happens when they riot.  For those who say let Kamal be governor, again there is a problem.  That requires Gavin winning the presidency, which is no sure thing, even against Donald Trump.  Also, there is a primary forming for that position as Gavin terms out in 2026.  (In heavy red and blue states there is a pecking order, and folks get very nasty when you mess up the rotation).  Again, it’s no shoe-in for Kamala.

Kamala doesn’t seem like the type to go quietly into the night when she doesn’t get her way.  It will get ugly.

Let’s say Joe bows out, and Gavin takes over.  Who is the VP?  Can’t pick a white person in that party, not to replace a black woman.  Michele “my belle” Obama doesn’t seem to want the job, and I think Barack wants to just hit the speaker circuit, he seems out on politics.  Al Sharpton has too much blood on his hands, so he is out.  I think there are 2 logical choices, there are 2 Castro brothers from Texas, either would be safe choices, the other being Xavier Beccera.  I am contradicting myself with Beccera as he is a Californian, but if you can read between the lines, you wind up throwing a bone to the Hispanic voters.  Democrats love racist dog whistles and here is another chance to play the “Trump is a racist” card.  Hispanic people outnumber black people about 4-1 (not counting new residents that arrived over the southern border) so any votes lost in the black community are likely more than accounted for moving forward.

It may seem like tin foil hat thinking, but it could work for the Democrats.

They needed Joe in 2020 to beat Trump.  There was no way; Bernie, Mayor Booty judge, or any of those other clowns out that stage was beating Trump last go round.  They knew it and rigged it.  Now that Joe is a liability, looking worse and worse with each speech or appearance, he makes it high time for him to go.  Need more proof?  David Axelrod (Obama campaign manager) and James Carville (Clinton campaign) are both saying Joe cannot win. Regardless of your thoughts about those two, they are very savvy and smart.

Need more proof?  A Fox News article recently advised Joe to “Throw his son Hunter under the bus to save his campaign.”  Folks, a father throwing a family member under the bus is a bad look, even in this case.

Still not convinced?  Why did Newsom vs DeSantis debate happen in Georgia?  Also why was it on Fox and moderated by Sean Hannity?  DeSantis looks like yesterday’s news and Gavin isn’t running so why have this?  Answer…. if Gavin looks good, Joe will be taking a tumble down the stairs, either on his own or someone will be pushing him.

For the Democrats the stakes are too high.